WEBVTT PORTER JAYNE MILLER.IN OUR CONTINUING REPORTS ON THESTATE OF ADDICTION.>> THIS IS TO MILLER GROUNDS OFFENTANYL.IT IS STICKING TO THE SIDE.>> YOU ALMOST CANNOT EVEN SEE ITIN THERE.JILL IS A CHEMIST WITH THE DRUGENFORCEMENT ADMINISTRATION.IT IS HERE, AT THE AGENCY'S LABOUTSIDE WASHINGTON, WHERE TRENDSARE FIRST SPOTTED ABOUT DRUG USEIN THE UNITED STATES.THE SYNTHETIC OPIOID FENTANYLSTARTED SHOWING UP IN THE LAB IN2014.IT IS NOW A MAJOR FACTOR IN THESKYROCKETING OVERDOSE RATE.>> I WOULD SAY FENTANYL ISSOMETHING THAT WILL KILL YOU.>> ALL IT TAKES TO BE LETHAL.TWO MILLIGRAMS.>> WE ARE SEEING FENTANYL BYITSELF WE'RE SEEING IT INCOMBINATION OF HEROINE AND INCOMBINATION WITH OTHER SYNTHETICOPIOIDS.>> ITS RAPID INCREASES FROM ITSILLICIT MANUFACTURE.IT IS MADE TO LOOK LIKE APOPULAR CANDY.>> IT IS LIKE MAYBE WITHIN THENEXT FIVE MINUTES.>> SHE OVERDOSED IN DECEMBERFOUND ON A WEST BALTIMOREPLAYGROUND THE DRUG THAT SAVIORWAS FENTANYL.-- THE DRUG WAS FENTANYL.>> I PAID PROBABLY $10 FOR ALITTLE CAPSULE.>> FROM 2014 AT 2015 FENTANYLOVERDOSE JEFF -- DEATH INCREASED72% ACCORDING TO THE C OF 423%FROM A HUNDRED 41 PART --HUNDRED 41 DEATHS.A 15 DEBTS IN THE COUNTY THISYEAR WITH COMPLETED TOXICOLOGYREPORTS ALL 15 INVOLVE FENTANYL.SYNTHETIC OPIOIDS LIKE FENTANYLMAKE THE DRUG EPIDEMIC ALL THEHARDER TO CONTAIN >> AT THEEVERYBODY IS DOING NOW.IT IS 20 TIMES STRONGER THAN THEOPIATES.>> CHINA MOVED ITS CONTROLMANUFACTURER.>> WE COULD TARGET PEOPLE WHOARE ORDERING IT AND GET ITMAILED TO THE UNITED STATES >>THE LAST EIGHT OR NINE YEARS WEHAVE IDENTIFIED CLOSE TO 400 NEWDRUGS THAT HAVE EMERGED IN THEUNITED STATES.LAST YEAR WE ENCOUNTERED 20SYNTHETIC OPIOIDS.>> POWERFUL ENOUGH TO KILL WITHAMOUNT SO SMALL THEY CAN BARELYBE SEEN.FOR THE 11 NEWS I-TEAM.ANDRE: YOU COULD SEE ALL OF OURSTATE OF ADDICTION STORIES AND

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Synthetic opioids like fentanyl are commanding much of the focus in the addiction crisis because they are dangerous, deadly and in high demand.

Jill Head is a chemist with the Drug Enforcement Administration at the agency's lab outside Washington, D.C., where trends are first spotted about drug use in the U.S. The synthetic opioid fentanyl started showing up in the lab in 2014. It is now a major factor in the skyrocketing overdose rate.

"Fentanyl is something that is going to kill you. It's lethal," said Melvin Patterson, with the DEA.

Head showed a small glass vial containing 2 mg of fentanyl, which is all it takes to be lethal.

"We are seeing fentanyl by itself, in combination with heroin and we are seeing fentanyl in combination with other synthetic opioids," Head said.

Like other narcotic painkillers, fentanyl is legitimately made and used, but its rapid increase in use is from its illicit manufacture. The DEA showed a photo of the drug that's made to look like a popular candy.

Phaedra, who is now in drug treatment, overdosed on fentanyl in December on a west Baltimore playground. Three injections of naloxone saved her.

Asked whether she knew she was getting fentanyl at the time that she bought it, Phaedra said, "No." She said she probably paid $10 for a small capsule.

From 2014 to 2015, fentanyl overdose deaths nationwide increased 72 percent, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Through September 2016, there have been 738 fentanyl-related overdose deaths in Maryland, which is up 423 percent from 141 deaths for the same period in 2014.

Harford County tracks overdose as closely as any jurisdiction. Of 15 deaths in the county this year that have completed toxicology reports, all 15 involved fentanyl.

Some in public health said they worry that fentanyl makes the drug epidemic all the harder to contain.

"Real heavy. That's what everybody is doing now. That's (fentanyl) the only thing out here," said David Murphy, a resident of southwest Baltimore. "They chase it. They want that because it's 10 times, 20 times stronger than the opiates. So that's what they use instead of the opiates. Now they just put it in with the fentanyl."

Earlier this year, China, the main source of illicit fentanyl, moved to more tightly control its manufacture. The DEA sees it as a new enforcement tool.

"We can start working with our counterparts in China to target people that are ordering it and trying to get it mailed to the United States," Patterson said.

But the DEA also expects new variations of the drug to emerge.

"In the last eight or nine years, we have identified close to 400 new drugs that have emerged in the United States. Last year, we encountered 20 synthetic opioids," Head said.

The drugs are so powerful they can kill with amounts so small they can barely be seen.